It feels free and peaceful for me and mine. I am extremely grateful for what we have and how we earned it. But observing the other tiers of rich and higher (real wealth), I didn’t realize how immature and insecure some of the bottom feeders on the wealth ladder were. When I think of how your average person can envy rich people, I would tell them: “you are not missing anything!” Keep on your grind and enjoy a simpler and happy life. It’s like a mo’ money, mo’ problems type of a deal.

Anonymous wrote:It's lonely because it becomes awkward with your old friends. The new people in your income bracket don't treat money the same way because they didn't have to work so hard for it.

+1

You feel like you don’t actually fit in anywhere.

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t change our lifestyle but does give peace of mind for retirement and any emergency that could come up. Also we can afford any college for our kids.

This is us. We still do not travel first class...though we could. I still shop sales at the grocery store. How else do you menu plan???

I grew up poor, but didn't know it. I retired early when I got some money. Poverty was nothing. Being mistreated at work is what I still think about. I almost lost my health to work.
Never wanted to buy or own anything special or expensive.
Problems that money cannot fix overtook the problems money fixes. That's all.
Life is easy now, but I also keep it simple.

It feels like no big deal. You can always adjust to more resources easily. And middle class is not equal to abject poverty.

What is hard to get over with within any SES or any education level - is a horrible, terrible childhood family. You carry that trauma forever.

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t change our lifestyle but does give peace of mind for retirement and any emergency that could come up. Also we can afford any college for our kids.

My husband grew up poor, I grew up middle class. My husband loves traveling but other than that we don't really signify wealth as much. We do have college accounts for our kids.

Anonymous wrote:We didn't become rich over night so we have grown into it. We maintain many of the habits of our MC life such as being frugal on many things but we travel first class and live very comfortably. We have lived in the same town for 30 years and we have maintained many of our early relationships though most of our friends have done quite well themselves. Also, all of my husbands siblings have done very well so there is no sibling resentment.

I wish I could spring for first class...I just can't get myself to spend the money. And we can afford it.

Not sure what the definition of rich is here. We are retired with about $15M in net worth. Both my husband and I grew up middle and lower middle class, respectively. I didn't notice any specific change at one moment, and I would say it happened gradually over time. Honestly, for me, the shock was more with my first job and traveling with co-workers going to pricey restaurants and staying in 4 star hotels. As time went on and we accumulated more wealth and things got more comfortable, the only thing I noticed is more people soliciting us for services, etc. The toughest thing for me is that I don't relate to a lot of people I encounter (i.e. other parents at kids' private schools, etc.). We don't live in a super expensive house, so that makes it easier for us to feel like we fit in.

I was fortunate because even though I grew up poor my family always had a lot of class. Therefore I learned early that money doesn’t give you class; it’s just a tool to make life easier. So the biggest change is that I no longer have to be aware of every cent— I can buy the nice pens, let my children use up all the paints on a project, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The difference is in how people treat you.

The difference is also: you are an outsider in your new-to-you rich community. So you don’t really fit in there fully.

Plus why would you want to? We didn't chance friends simply because we made more money. I have friends from all levels of life. As a couple our closest friend groups ranges from all levels, but within the college educated simply because that is who we meet at work and who typically lives in communities we live in.

Anonymous wrote:Define "rich."

I was trailer trash growing up and became a Biglaw equity partner. Am I "rich?"

If you're doing it right.

We didn't become rich over night so we have grown into it. We maintain many of the habits of our MC life such as being frugal on many things but we travel first class and live very comfortably. We have lived in the same town for 30 years and we have maintained many of our early relationships though most of our friends have done quite well themselves. Also, all of my husbands siblings have done very well so there is no sibling resentment.

Anonymous wrote:The difference is in how people treat you.

The difference is also: you are an outsider in your new-to-you rich community. So you don’t really fit in there fully.

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t change our lifestyle but does give peace of mind for retirement and any emergency that could come up. Also we can afford any college for our kids.

We deliberately avoid visible signs of wealth and have made efforts to keep our friends. So there is no difference in how we’re treated in our daily lives. We faced some unwanted attention from investment managers at our banks, but we made it clear we handle our finances ourselves, so now we’re not bothered.

It doesn’t change our lifestyle but does give peace of mind for retirement and any emergency that could come up. Also we can afford any college for our kids.